Auto Shows & Future Cars

Tesla Electric Roadster Crosses China’s Great Wall

June 23, 2010

A Tesla Roadster traveling around the world arrived recently at the Great Wall of China, the most iconic cultural landmark of the eight-month road trip.

Chen Dao Ming, one of China’s most respected actors, took a spin in the Roadster during its stop the 8,852-kilometer Great Wall. Ming is best known for his role in “Hero,” and he stars in “Aftershock,” which debuts this summer.

Beijing was the eighth stop in the “Odyssey of Pioneers,” the first round-the-world tour by a zero-emission car. Launched in March from Basel, Switzerland, the 22,000-mile voyage by Tesla Motors and avant-garde Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer includes public and VIP events in 15 cities across three continents.

In May, the Roadster appeared in India and was hosted in Jaipur by His Royal Highness Sawai Bhawani Singh Bahadur, the last maharaja of Jaipur — Rajasthan’s most significant political, cultural and religious figure. Before that, the Roadster became the first non-Russian car to get official clearance to park in Moscow’s Red Square. In April, the tour visited the Budapest-Hungary hometown of the 1882 inventor of the alternating-current induction motor, Nikola Tesla.

The next stop for world’s only electric sports car is QuFu, the hometown of philosopher Confucius. The tour concludes in Paris in October.

Tesla’s Roadster Sport consumes no gasoline. Throughout India, Russia, China, and other countries en route, the Roadster has charged from conventional outlets using existing infrastructure. The TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster has charged from standard outlets at hotels, a solar panel array in Italy and even at a barn in rural Switzerland, demonstrating the versatility and ease of charging.

With an acceleration of 0-62 mph in less than four seconds, the Tesla Roadster is the only highway-capable electric in serial production to deliver a supercar performance with guilt-free, zero-tailpipe-emissions and a carbon footprint dramatically lower than any comparable sports car. Wonder how to maintain it? Believe it or not, Tesla Service Rangers make house calls to service the Roadsters.